rent-seeking
noun
Simple meaning
The try to profit by manipulating the economic or political environment, for example, by seeking governmental action that restricts entry into a market.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
rehntseekingSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɹɛntˈsikɪŋ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The effort to increase one's share of wealth without doing something productive or adding value.
economics
The attempt to profit by manipulating the economic or political environment, for example, by seeking governmental action that restricts entry into a market.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The attempt to profit by manipulating the economic or political environment, for example, by seeking governmental action that restricts entry into a market.
Used this way, rent-seeking is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in finance or economics and government or politics contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Finance/economics
- Government/politics
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
Share your sentence
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “rent-seeking” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.